Worn Masks by Phyllis Carito

her. But, Elena did confirm that
she had written and received letters from Aunt Maggie, written in the years
after Uncle Paul had passed away.
    Letters Mary Grace still could not find. And she could not imagine
how nervous it must have made Aunt Maggie having these letters come to the
house. She would have to get the mail before Teresa, not chance Teresa seeing a
letter from Italy with a return address of a Giordano. And later would she even
have known her sister Elena’s marriage name? Still, just the fact that Aunt
Maggie was getting letters from Italy would have sparked Teresa’s curiosity.
Poor Aunt Maggie, hiding, always hiding.
    And why couldn’t Mary Grace recall the visit that Aunt Maggie and
Elena seemed to remember so well? Mary Grace felt the Italian words in Elena’s
letters were sweet and loving. In a way, for Mary Grace, it made perfect sense
that she had no memory of the visit. She learned early it was better not to be
engaged, just to be quiet. Not to ask questions. Mary Grace’s mother may have
warned her not to bring it up again, and in time it became buried, like
everything else.
    Mary Grace was embarrassed, not because she didn’t remember, but
because it sounded like her mother had been rude to them, no worse, cruel to
her own younger brother and little sister. Mary Grace felt the old anger
stirring. She closed her eyes to hold back her emotion, and her fear. Was she like her mother–did she shut ev eryone out?
    She wrote back to Elena, “ Grazie , I am grateful to know all
of this. Tell me more about Giuseppe.”
    Elena visited Giuseppe again and together they wrote another
letter. Giuseppe was ill and his body was drained from fighting, but his mind
was still sharp. He loved his, mia cara, mia sorrella, mia Teresa, mia bella .
His descriptions were not of a woman Mary Grace had ever known. “And I still
cry, again and again, mia bella, mia sorella , so much she suffered,”
wrote Elena for her brother.
    Toward the end of the letter in a shaky hand
were his own words, “bambini soffrano i loro genitori.” Mary Grace had
an eerie feeling, like somehow Giuseppe knew her, not just her mother, although
that was nonsense.
    Was this family? She felt the breath fill her lungs, and she felt
her heart thumping against her chest, as if it had just begun to beat for the
first time.
    Elena often talked about her husband, Federico, and their
eleven-year-old son, Mario. She was so proud of both of them. “I met Federico
at university, and my momma supported me telling my papa that she would not lose another daughter. It may have helped that
Fed erico’s family were successful exporters and they knew I would be
well taken care of.” She told Mary Grace she had hoped for a second child, a
girl, but that was not to be. “No sister, and no daughter.” She then
apologized: “Not that my brothers aren’t wonderful, but a girl wants a sister.”
    They arranged to Skype together. There in front of Mary Grace was
the beautiful Elena.
    Mary Grace tried to ask Elena why her mother would name her after
the twins and yet never tell her about them? Of course, it wasn’t a question
Elena could answer. Although, she seemed to understand how it troubled Mary
Grace. Elena kindly talked around the question to how difficult it must have
been to be so alone in America, to have such a heavy heart. She did admit, “I
was so angry with Teresa. Everybody in the house talk about her. Her brothers
missed her. And Papa warn me not to misbehave like my sister, Teresa.” Yet,
Elena also related that she felt Teresa had led the way for her to break from
the family, in a good way. The brothers would always stay close to home, “but I
go away to university and then move sud with mia amore ,
Federico.”
    Mary Grace questioned Elena about all that Gi useppe had said,
especially in the end of the letter about some thing
concerning children and parents–and Elena explained it was a saying– bambini
soffrano i loro genitori , which